White-winged Crossbills in Monroe, Wayne, and Oakland Counties - 20 January 2008

[Adam Byrne]

Greetings,

Yesterday I had the opportunity to look for White-winged Crossbills 
in extreme southeastern Michigan.  I expected it would take me much 
of the day to find them in my target counties (Monroe and Oakland), 
but was able to find them at my first stops in each county (and get 
back to work at a decent hour)!

I started the morning in Temperance, Monroe County and quickly found 
a flock of 37 White-wingeds along Hampshire Drive, near Comstock 
Dr.  This is in a subdivision on the north side of Stearns Road, just 
east of Jackman Road.

In Wayne County, I easily located 7 White-wingeds in the cemetery off 
Tyler Road, adjacent to the Visteon Plant.

Lastly, I started driving through subdivisions in Farmington Hills, 
Oakland County and found 2 White-wingeds in an area just south of 11 
Mile Road and east of Orchard Lake Road.

It is truly amazing how widely distributed and common this species is 
this year!  Enjoy them while you can, we may never see another 
irruption of this magnitude!

Good birding,

Adam M. Byrne